Weave the Unraveled Strings
by IceBlueRose
Summary: Leonard Snart didn't die at the Oculus. Eobard Thawne had other plans for him.


**A/N: I posted this on AO3 last year to mark my two year anniversary of writing Legends fic and I'm finally getting around to posting it here. I got very inspired while doing a Buffy rewatch and I'm pretty sure that a lot of Buffy watchers will recognize the scenes inspired by BTVS. Either way, hope you enjoy!**

Leonard smirked at the group of Time Masters surrounding him. Sara and Mick were safe and what he was about to do would mean these bastards couldn't mess with them or Lisa ever again.

"There are no—"

The rest of his sentence got stuck in his throat as something slammed into him. He closed his eyes against the blur that his surroundings had become even as he felt the whole place shake as the Oculus exploded behind them.

He groaned as he was unceremoniously tossed against a wall and hunched over, sucking in a few deep breaths to get the nausea under control.

"Damn it, Barry, a little warning would be nice next time," he said, opening his eyes. He turned and froze at the sight of a man he'd never seen before in a yellow suit that was the opposite of Barry's. Leonard's eyes flicked around and he tensed as he realized that he was definitely on a time ship and in the brig.

"Sorry," the man said. "Wrong speedster."

Leonard didn't have time to respond before he'd sped forward and punched him in the face using his super speed, knocking Leonard out.

* * *

Leonard opened his eyes slowly, wincing at the way the side of his face throbbed.

He'd just finished healing up from Mick beating him a couple weeks ago too, damn it.

Closing his eyes again, Leonard took a deep breath then opened his eyes to take stock of the situation.

First, he'd been stripped of his jacket, sweater, and undershirt leaving him bare from the waist up. His jaw clenched at the thought that anyone had seen him like this without his permission. Second, his arms were above his head, spread out to form a Y shape, with no give in the ropes being used. Third, his ankles were also restrained. Fourth, he was gagged. Fifth, he was no longer in the brig. Instead, he was in a room that looked all too familiar.

The Vanishing Point.

_Shit._

The room was mostly dark, the only light was a single beam of light aimed down at him. Around him, he couldn't make out any single shape in the dark though if he looked ahead, he could see another room just like the one he was in. The only difference was that instead of being held up by ropes, there was a person in a chair that was in the middle of the room, a small table just to the right of the chair.

He narrowed his eyes before sucking in a breath through his nose.

Rip. That was Rip in that chair and if they had Rip...

He closed his eyes and deliberately slowed his breathing. If they had Rip, did they have the rest of the team? Were Mick and Sara somewhere in a room similar to this? And who the hell was the speedster that had taken them?

"Ah, you're awake!"

As if just thinking about him had summoned the speedster, he entered the room, a welcoming smile on his face.

"Apologies about the restraints and gag but I can't have you escaping," he said. "Or trying to, at least. And I can't have you trying to talk to Rip over there since, sadly, the Time Masters never actually soundproofed the rooms." He glanced through the doorway and then turned back to Leonard. "You're the backup plan. No offense. But since...what did you say her name was?"

If he was talking about the team, there were only two options, Leonard thought. Sara or Kendra.

"Sara Lance," a second man said as he walked out of the shadows followed by a third. The one who had spoken looked a bit familiar while the one that looked like he took hair coloring tips from that vampire on that show Mick loved so damn much was a complete unknown.

The speedster nodded. "Yes. Sara Lance. She got the medallion that we need," he said annoyed and Leonard desperately wished he could smirk at the man. He settled for a sense of satisfaction that Sara had gotten one up on this jackass.

"Let's not forget they also got away with the piece of the Spear we were after," Blond Guy added.

"Yes, let's add that to your list of failures," the second man told Blond Guy.

"My failure? Excuse me, you were the one that got your ass kicked around the Waverider by a 5'6" blonde not too long ago. The only reason she didn't slit your throat open was you blurting out that we had the old man."

"And not even having him worked," the speedster sighed. "I could've had it when I disguised myself as the old man but, no, the kid blew my cover."

"You know," the second man said, smirking at the blond, "as I recall, you had half of the medallion on you when you fought Sara at the White House. If you had just noticed that Sara was picking your pocket at the same time she was fighting you, we wouldn't even be having these problems."

The fact that Sara had managed to pick this guy's pocket while fighting him was enough to make Leonard want to laugh. Of course she'd managed that. He wasn't the only one with sticky fingers on the team after all.

Blond Guy narrowed his eyes. "You weren't even part of this back then, Malcolm, so I'd watch it."

Malcolm raised an eyebrow. "I don't see why. It just proves that I'm not the one that screwed up."

"Do either of you ever shut up?" the speedster snapped.

Leonard listened to everything carefully, trying to put the pieces together. He wasn't sure what medallion Sara had taken. From the sounds of it, she'd also been the one to screw up whatever plans they had. She'd fought off Malcolm and it sounded like Jax had ruined the speedster's plans too at some point. Which meant that either they were still hunting down Savage while also fighting these guys or they'd defeated him and this was a new mission.

Sara, Jax, Stein, Rip. That was four of his teammates mentioned (or seen in Rip's case) so far. Now, he just had to wonder about the rest of them.

"The point," the speedster said, turning back to Leonard, "is that if we can't get Rip to help us, you're next."

Leonard raised an eyebrow and let all the disdain he already felt for the three show on his face.

The speedster chuckled at his expression. "I thought that might be your answer. Why don't you think about it while we go have a chat with Captain Hunter?" Without another word, he gestured and Malcolm and Blond Guy headed into the next room like the good lapdogs he assumed they were.

His eyes flicked from the speedster over to Rip and he let out a slow breath through his nose.

Here's hoping the captain could hold up under torture because Leonard was positive that these three weren't the type to just ask nicely.

* * *

Leonard watched as Rip woke up and it didn't take long to realize that this wasn't the Rip Hunter that he knew. Leonard shook his head as Rip called out,

"Uh, hello? Hello? Is anybody there?"

After a moment, the speedster flashed over into the next room, leaving a trail of red lightning in his wake.

"Welcome, Captain Hunter," he said.

Rip sputtered. "Yeah, you know I was just bluffing, right? I am not actually Rip Hunter." He twitched and tilted his head. "My name is Phil and I am a full time film student and part time recreational drug user. Seriously regretting the latter."

If the circumstances were any different, Leonard would be fighting the urge to laugh right now.

"Oh, I know exactly who you are," the speedster said, moving closer. "I know that you are one of the protectors of the Spear of Destiny and I know you know where the other pieces are."

"I-I-I-I don't know anything! I-I-I-I swear!" He stared up at the speedster and even from the next room over, Leonard could see the panic beginning to take over. "I am not Rip Hunter! I-I'm...nobody! I can't believe this is happening to me," he said, his voice dropping to almost a whimper on the last sentence. Leonard watched as Rip noticed the table for the first time. "You're here to torture me, aren't you?"

"Oh, I'm not going to torture you, Mr. Hunter."

"No?"

"No." The speedster pointed towards the shadows just beyond the table as Malcolm and Blond Guy appeared. Leonard gave them points for intimidation since Rip as Phil was probably flipping out but also decided on points lost for repeating the same entrance they'd used on him. "They are."

"No," Rip said, looking between the men. "No, please. Please let me go!" His voice rose to a shout. "Let me go!"

_Wishful thinking, Rip_, Leonard thought.

* * *

Leonard wasn't sure how much time had passed but he knew that Rip had been screaming for most of it, begging to be let go for the rest of it. None of them had bothered to come back in to the room he was in and had concentrated on Rip.

Part of Leonard was just fine with that. It allowed him to twist his wrists and try to loosen the ropes (not that that had worked at all so far) and try to figure out what the Spear of Destiny was.

Part of him was pissed because it meant that they were torturing his teammate, no matter how annoying he thought Rip was.

His gaze moved back to the doorway when there was movement there and his eyes narrowed at the sight of the blond man whose name he still didn't know.

"Your old captain is looking to be pretty useless though there's still a bit of hope we can get him to talk," he said as he entered. "Still, unluckily for you, it's been decided that we start trying to get you on our side."

Leonard scoffed and rolled his eyes. Monologue time.

"Now, in the future, I'm pretty handy with magic. Sadly, I've only just gotten started with that in my time so I don't have the reserves that I will. Which means no mind control for you. You're welcome." He smiled. "But that doesn't mean I can't get the job started anyway before we move on to the physical portion of our program." He moved until he was standing in front of Leonard and looked into his eyes, smirking. After a few moments, the smirk gained an edge of smugness and he stepped back. "I see." He nodded and turned to walk out of the room, waving a hand at the shadows as he did so. "I'll come check on you later."

Leonard frowned as much as he could with the gag in his mouth as the blond man left. As torture tactics went, that had been pointless.

The shadows shifted and out walked Lisa, a smirk on her face.

"Hi, Lenny."

* * *

Malcolm had come in while Lisa was there. It was as if he hadn't been able to see her at all and, Leonard figured, he probably couldn't.

"Feel free to scream," Malcolm told him, yanking the gag down so that it hung around his neck. "Eobard has figured out how to...reprogram your friend Rip but there's always a chance it won't take so it's time for phase two with you."

Leonard licked his lips and swallowed in an attempt to make his mouth feel less like something died. "I wouldn't say Rip and I were friends," he managed, voice scratchy.

Behind Malcolm, Lisa began to walk towards him, turning so that she could circle around him. His eyes flicked to the right only to see Sara there instead of Lisa and he swallowed again, his mouth suddenly dry.

"Oh good, then you won't care what we do to him. Honestly, I think we could have gotten you to go for the plan without the torture. Or, well I did, but it seems you're a bit attached to a couple of the people on that team. At least, according to Damien. Specifically Sara and...Mick Rory, I believe it was?" Malcolm backed away and dragged a table out from the shadows, his fingers dancing over the different knives and tools on there. "I like Sara. She and her sister were friends with my son growing up, you know. Of course, she was always the little sister tagging along but Tommy thought she was a riot." He hefted a knife and turned it over in his hands, inspecting it. "Of course, now my son and her sister are both dead and Sara hates my guts." He flashed a smile at Leonard. "You arrange for a girl to be shot full of arrows one time and suddenly you're the bad guy." He turned back to the knife and flipped it. "She's really got to let that go."

Leonard stared at Malcolm as the pieces fell into place. Malcolm Merlyn. He'd seen pictures on the news after The Undertaking and thought anyone behind that couldn't be playing with a full deck. But he'd started to despise the man after one of their card games when Sara had quietly told him about how a man she'd grown up thinking of as an uncle had been the one behind her death.

A few moments after that, the first part of what he'd said clicked and he fought not to react outwardly.

Sara's sister was dead. Did she know? His eyes flicked over to the Sara standing towards his right and he paused when he saw the way she was staring at his scars.

_I'm sorry. I'm sorry about your sister_, he thought as he looked at her. Real Sara or not, he wished he could say it out loud.

"You probably deserved those, you know," she said. She smiled when he frowned. "The scars. You're not exactly one of the good guys after all, are you?"

"So," Malcolm said, turning towards him with a smile and a wave of the knife, "let's get started."

"You deserve this too," Sara told him as Malcolm slid the knife along his skin, digging in slightly until he drew blood.

Leonard closed his eyes and fought to ignore her. That wasn't Sara.

"You deserve everything you get."

That wasn't Sara.

* * *

"You're selfish, you know that?"

Mick. Leonard closed his eyes and clenched his jaw as his partner stared him down. Malcolm had carved into him earlier and the air stung as he stood there, hanging from the damn ceiling. Damien, who he now knew was the blond magic user, had come in and added to them and even dug into the ones that Malcolm had made. To keep them fresh he'd said with a smile that Leonard wanted to punch.

"Leonard Snart. Always have to be the boss. Always the guy with the plan. Except your plan wasn't very good this time was it? Look at you. I bet you didn't even think of Lisa when you decided to take my place did you?"

No, no, that wasn't true. He'd thought of her. He'd thought of how she'd finally be free to make her own choices. She wouldn't be manipulated, she—

"Of course you didn't," Lisa sighed. "You never think of me, Lenny."

Leonard's eyes snapped open and he shook his head. "You're not real," he whispered.

"But I am. I'm real. And you're a horrible brother. Maybe you were okay at it when I was a kid but you weren't great. Getting tossed into juvie and leaving me with Dad. Every single time you came back I had new scars and that's on you."

He thought of Lisa smiling and demanding more family time from him. The way she always threw her arms around him when they saw each other.

"You're not real," he repeated.

"You're the reason I can't even wear a tank top."

"Not real, not real, not real..."

"You did this to me, Lenny."

* * *

Damien was back. The guy was more bloodthirsty than Mick had ever been. Leonard had already heard Malcolm scolding him about cutting Leonard up too much.

_"We need him to actually be useful if something goes wrong with Rip, you know. He can't be half dead and crazy."_

How nice that they didn't want to torture him into insanity or to death.

Except Damien was reopening his wounds again. There was no way these weren't going to scar.

What a joy. More scars.

The sound of footsteps drew Damien's attention away from him and Leonard took a moment to be silently grateful. His jaw clenched when Rip walked into the room.

Because this was definitely Rip but without any of the emotional attachments the original one had—not even to his wife and son.

"Well?" Damien asked.

"I not only got the piece of the Spear they had on the ship but I managed to kill Sara Lance," Rip told him.

Whatever Damien said next was lost to Leonard as a rushing sound filled his ears and he struggled to keep his breath steady.

He was going to throw up.

_I managed to kill Sara Lance._

"So much for all that talk about seeing what the future would hold for me and you, huh?" Sara asked.

The sound of her voice jolted him back to reality and his eyes flew to where Rip was standing as Damien congratulated him.

"Yes, well, there's the problem. Dr. Palmer and Dr. Stein managed to bring her back to life. It seems Ms. Lance just doesn't know how to stay dead."

Leonard felt a surge of relief go through him. Sara was alive.

It seemed as if he'd been forgotten now that Damien knew they had the piece of Spear that had been hidden on the Waverider and Leonard kept silent as they walked out.

"Mr. Rory managed to escape along with George Washington so that part of the plan fell apart as well," Rip said as they headed towards the door and Leonard fought not to smile.

Mick was alive.

"Well, you can't always win them all," Damien said. "But I think we can count this as our win since we have the Spear."

Leonard only allowed himself to relax once they were out of the room. He knew that they didn't monitor him. They let him out of the restraints once a day to use the restroom and it was always Eobard that did that because there was no way he was outrunning a speedster, especially with the way he felt now. His wounds never had the chance to heal. Malcolm actually gave him water and he'd given him a couple smoothies (Leonard had hated it, having to swallow his pride and allow the man to hold a damn straw to his mouth but his pride wasn't worth dying from dehydration or starvation). Enough to keep him alive but not enough to keep him energized. He'd lost count of the times he'd passed out.

"That's on you too, you know," Sara told him. "If you'd been there, he probably wouldn't have gotten close. But you had to go be a hero."

Leonard closed his eyes again. "They'll come for me," he whispered, ignoring that voice in the back of his head that said they didn't even know he was alive. "They'll come for me."

"I'm not sure why you did it though. You're not a hero. You said it yourself. You're not one of the team. You're not our friend. You're a selfish thief who gets his kicks from lying to people and seeing how big a score he can take."

"They'll come for me, they'll come for me, they'll come for me..."

Sara sighed and he couldn't help but open his eyes to find that she'd moved until she was standing right in front of him.

"No," she said. "We won't."

* * *

They'd lost Rip and the piece of the Spear that they'd been after. Leonard almost wanted to laugh but it also meant that Damien had come back in to visit him.

This man needed some serious anger management, Leonard thought to himself as he watched Damien storm out of the room. Leonard glanced down at his chest and then back up, scowling.

"They'll come for me," he whispered to himself. "They'll come for me."

"Do you actually believe that?" Mick asked. "How's that working out for you?"

"They'll come for me," Leonard continued, fighting to ignore Mick. "They'll come for me, they'll come for me..."

"Like you came back for me?" Mick smirked. "No, wait, you forgot about me. Left me there, half frozen, to starve and go crazy in the woods. What was that you said to me back in Russia? It's always been you and me? So much for that, huh, _partner_?"

"They'll come for me, they'll come for me, they'll come for me..."

"You're going to die here. Alone. Like you should have when you decided to stay at the Oculus."

Leonard swallowed and shook his head, closing his eyes again.

"They'll come for me, they'll come for me, they'll come for me..."

* * *

Leonard had lost track of time again. He didn't know how long it had been since Rip had been taken. But he knew that they were off making plans and he blew out a breath.

It was Sara again today.

"You know, I have to wonder what you thought might happen between us with that offer of a future." She circled him once and then stopped in front of him. "Did you think we'd ride off into the sunset together?" She scoffed. "Please. Talk about delusional, Leonard. You think we were close? Friendship of convenience. You're not even on my radar anymore."

"They'll come for me, they'll come for me, they'll come for me..."

"I can't decide if that delusion of yours is sweet, pathetic, or both."

Leonard ignored her. "They'll come for me, they'll come for me, they'll come for me..."

"We're not. We're not coming for you. Not now, not ever. We're a little busy, saving the world and if it comes down to a choice between you and the world..."She shrugged, the corner of her mouth lifting in a half smile. "Well, something's got to give. Might as well be you, Crook. Everyone already thinks you're dead. We can let it become reality if it means saving the world."

"They'll come for me, they'll come for me, they'll come for me..."

"After all," Lisa asked, "what's so important about you?"

* * *

"They'll come for me, they'll come for me, they'll come for me..." Leonard shut his eyes against the sight of Lisa smirking at him again. His arms ached, he couldn't remember the last time he'd been allowed out of these damn ropes and he was at the point that he just wanted it all to stop. There was only one thought keeping him going at this point.

"They won't. I bet they've just moved on like you never even existed."

"They'll come for me, they'll come for me, they'll come for me..."

The sound of footsteps caused him to instantly stop. He frowned as he listened carefully and realized they were running. Not full out. But still running.

Malcolm then probably. He couldn't picture Damien running unless he had to and if it were Eobard he wouldn't have even heard the footsteps, just a whoosh of air and red lightning.

Leonard took a few moments to close his eyes and take a few deep breaths as he leaned his head against his own arm. He didn't actually care if Malcolm saw him like this by now. The man had fed him after all.

His eyebrows drew together and he frowned when the footsteps stopped just inside the doorway.

"Leonard," Sara breathed.

He didn't have the energy for this, Leonard decided, shaking his head and refusing to open his eyes. He didn't have the energy to listen to Sara belittle him today.

"Mick," she shouted. "I found him!"

Leonard's eyes snapped open and he turned his head to look at her, his frown deepening as he took in her appearance.

She was in her White Canary suit, though the jacket was shorter, her knuckles were bruised, her lip split, and there was a cut on her left cheek. Her eyes, wide and filled with anger, were locked on his chest and the multitude of wounds there.

Sara never looked like that when she appeared. He tilted his head to study her.

"Son of a bitch!"

His eyes flicked passed Sara to find Mick in the doorway looking furious.

Sara tore her eyes away from the cuts and dried blood and glanced over her shoulder as she pulled out a couple of knives, easily flipping one in her hand so that the handle was towards Mick. "I can't reach the ropes around his wrists," she told him. "You get those and I'll get his ankles."

Mick took the knife, his eyes meeting hers, and nodded. Leonard's fingers twitched and he smothered the spark of hope that was fighting to come to life.

_They don't even know I'm alive. You're seeing things as usual, Snart,_ Leonard told himself, forcing himself to glance away. He tensed when they approached him from both sides and then Mick's hand wrapped around his arm while the other began to slice through the rope and Leonard let out a shuddering breath. He could feel Sara's hand carefully gripping his ankle while the rope knotted around the anchors in the floor slowly began to loosen.

The moment the rope around his wrist snapped, Leonard fought back a groan and just let out a shaky breath instead as Mick helped him lower his arm. He blinked when he realized that Sara was already at work on his other ankle, the knife quickly slicing through the rope.

Score one for assassin knives.

Mick moved to his other side even as Sara stood and looked up at him. Leonard took in the way her cheek was already bruising around the cut, the dried blood on her split lip, and the way her hair fell messily around her shoulders.

She was probably the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen.

Slowly, he lifted his hand and touched her shoulder, not bothering to hide the look of amazement that appeared on his face over the sheer fact that he _could_.

"You came," he said quietly.

She stepped forward, curling her arm around his back and helping him to settle his right arm over her shoulders. Looking up at him, she smiled, ignoring the way it pulled at the cut on her lip. "Of course we did," she told him.

Mick lowered his left arm, copying Sara's actions until Leonard's arm was around his shoulders and his arm was around Leonard's back, settling just above Sara's arm. "Sorry we're late," he added.

Leonard huffed out a laugh that was more air than anything else. "Make it up to me later," he told them.

Sara reached up with her right hand so that she was gripping his and squeezed lightly. "We plan to."


End file.
